Cheap family days out in France

Phew! I’m exhausted. We’ve had another day at the local piscine. It was a gloriously sunny day going up to 36 in the afternoon. No 1 son threw himself into the water at 11.30 when we arrived and had to be extracted at 3.30 when we left. For the most, granny and I involved ourselves in swimming and playing piggy in the middle with our dated inflatable beachball but it was none of these activities that created such fatigue. Rather it was the piscine café where we sauntered over bedecked in our colourful sarongs which sapped my energy levels so much.

In the lidos you are not allowed to eat or drink around the pool ( the notices imply that this is such a serious offence that you would be frog-marched off the premises if you dared to try) although there is a grass area beyond the pool where you can have a picnic many of the bathers go to the pool café. This particular pool café has been taken over by new proprietors. Have you ever wondered where Delboy and Rodney ended up? Wonder no longer…..they’re here in deepest France running a pool café! They obviously thought they’d cash in on the summer goldmine of the piscine eaterie where most people feel obliged to lunch on their pool day out. Very soon it becomes clear to us that they haven’t done this kind of work before as Rodney sweats over the pizza ovens and frite fryers and Delboy grumpily says to each customer

“J’arrive, j’arrive” (I’m coming, I’m coming)

A promise which he took an extraordinarily long, long time to fulfil. Finally we were rewarded with our lunch but watching his inefficiency creating a groove in the café floor was exhausting.

Nevertheless, days out at the municipal outdoor pool are inexpensive and great fun for the whole family.